Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Interesting Contributions on the Establishment of Classes in Player
Construction Under Auspices of Chicago Board of Education from
Paul B. Klugh, W. M. Roberts, W. N. Van Matre and Fayette S. Cable.
In Chicago this Fall there will be undertaken an experiment which has been going" on already for some
time in New York; namely, the giving of public instruction in the principles and practice of player building,
adjustment and repairing. As in New York, so in Chicago, the educational authority has been induced to open
classes in this subject as part of the regular vocational instruction given free in night schools during the Fall and
Winter months.
This is not the place in which to enter into discussion of what has been done in the past. Nor need we en-
large upon the well-known fact that to the efforts of one man more than to any other single influence is to be
credited the fact that the present work in Chicago is to be undertaken. But it is right to say something here,
and to get some of the men most directly interested to say something regarding what may be accomplished in
the new western experiment under the right conditions.
'
Technical training in player mechanism for the tuner, for the repairman and for the factory mechanic is
needed; we are all agreed on that. But we are not all agreed on how best to get what we all know we want.
To the end that some ideas having value may be developed in advance of the beginning of the Chicago classes,
we have asked the gentlemen whose views are reproduced below, to give us their answers to the following
questions:
(1) WHAT RESULTS, IN YOUR OPINION, MAY BE EXPECTED TO FLOW FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CLASSES
IN PLAYER CONSTRUCTION UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE CHICAGO BOARD OF EDUCATION; IF SUCH CLASSES BE
RIGHTLY CONDUCTED; and
(2) WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF THE MEANING OF "RIGHTLY CONDUCTED" IN THE PRESENT CASE?
Among the opinions quoted below we take especial pleasure in reproducing that of District Superintendent
Roberts, of the Chicago schools, in charge of the technical and vocational night classes, which may be accepted as
authoritative.
Interesting Views on the Subject by Paul B. Klugh, Vice-President of
the Cable Company, Chicago.
Since I had something—in fact a good deal—to
do with the inauguration of the technical educa-
tion idea in Chicago, I suppose I ought to make
an effort briefly to answer your questions. First.
I would say that,
rightly conduct-
ed, the school
will have t h e
special effect of
making the now-
existent knowl-
edge of player
constru c t i o n
more general and
less specialized.
Although it is
p o s s i b l e for
player manufac-
turers to train
their own men
Paul B. Klugh.
j n t n e ins and
outs of their own players, it is not so
easy for the latter to obtain comprehensive
ideas as to other kinds of players; and this neces-
sary knowledge the classes should and can give.
Secondly, the classes will have the effect of tak-
ing away the excuse made by so many tuners that
information on the subject of player mechanism
in general is not readily available to them. Third-
ly, they will relieve, or tend to relieve, player man-
ufacturers from the present necessity for giving
instruction in their own factories to tuners and
others who come asking for it and who cannot
properly be refused. This instruction has in the
past been taken up by the manufacturers as a nec-
essary evil; necessary, but a nuisance. The op-
portunity is now presented of doing away with this
entirely.
As for your second question, of course you know
that the right or wrong conduct of an enterprise
like this is the life or the death of it. One could
write a volume on this subject alone, but I will
trespass on your space only enough to summarize
what, in my opinion, are the requisite conditions
to success. First, I would say that a representative
array of existing player mechanisms should be pro
vided by the manufacturers thereof. In fact, every
player mechanism now permanently on the market
ought to be on hand. Secondly, the instructor
should be a thoroughly competent man, able to
ground his students in principles, as well as in
practise, and altogether removed from the bias of
association with any special product. Thirdly, the
manufacturers and dealers should make every ef-
fort not merely to encourage, but also to insist
upon, the attendance of their men wherever this
is possible. Fourthly, the attendance of out-of-
town tuners should be encouraged, wherever this
is not against the requirements and the necessary
policy of the Board of Education. I think that
this is all T need say nn this topic at the present time.
Policy of the Chicago Board of Education, Stated by W. M. Roberts, District
Superintendent of Schools in Charge of Vocational Night Schools.
In the vocational night schools operated by the
Board of Education, the underlying idea in the
minds of the educational authorities is that it is
a matter of public policy to give such facilities as
may be available and practicable, to the wage-
earner who desires to know more of his trade than
he can conveniently learn during his daily labors.
Thus we have in our vocational schools, classes in
which all manner of trades are being taught, from
the standpoint of their theory. For instance, the
machinist classes take up the mathematics and the
drawing required to enable men to Tead plans and
drawings and do simple technical work of that
sort, while at the same time the practical shop
work is also taught. Wherever there is a public
demand for us to teach the technics of some skilled
trade in this manner, and wherever we are able
to make arrangements to do so, we undertake the
work. Of course, we ask the advice of the em-
ployers as to the kind of teaching desired, and
also we try to find out from the students them-
selves what they actually need. Likewise, we con-
sult the employers of the trade involved as to the
choice of an instructor or instructors, though the
actual choice we naturally reserve to ourselves.
This is precisely trie situation in regard to the
classes in player construction. There is a legitimate
demand for means whereby a better knowledge
than is current may be imparted to the men who
tune, repair and maintain in good order the player-
pianos of the city, as well as to those who are
engaged in the various branches of their manufac-
ture. This knowledge the vocational night school
system is enabled to supply through the union of
its facilities with those which the piano trade will
itself furnish.
The necessary technical equipment is, of course,
to be furnished by the piano and player manu-
facturers interested, and
it is highly desirable that
a complete array of ex-
isting player mecha-
nisms should be put at
our disposal.
As for the nature of
the teaching to be given
this will be thoroughly
.practical, in accordance
with our universal prac-
tice in these matters,
W. M. Roberts.
while every endeavor
will be made to see that, a sound basis of principle
is also laid.
We shall have, according to the results of our
inquiries an enrolment from the start of nearly 100
students when the classes are first called to order
next October.
(Continued on page 7.)